HOME PROFILE: Plenty to enjoy in Gloucester charmer

Finding ways to describe this delightful home is the easy part. Narrowing it down to "one" word is where it gets difficult — as in very.

By Barbara ForsterGateHouse Media

ADDRESS: 16 Wheeler St., Gloucester

BEDROOMS: 3

BATHROOMS: 2 full

LIVING SPACE: 1,091 sq. ft.

PRICE: $349,900

Finding ways to describe this delightful home is the easy part. Narrowing it down to "one" word is where it gets difficult — as in very.

For example, this light-filled home, which is officially a "Colonial" built in 1900, has definite curb appeal. Consider this home is set above the street on a stone-based rise complete with white picket fence and a gated arbor. Nice!

It gets better. A patio area on one side of the house is part of the prettily landscaped tiered yard. What you don’t see immediately from the street, however, is the pièce de résistance: a large level play area (for adults or not) that includes a spacious paver patio against a granite/ledge backdrop. By the way, the entire outdoor area is beautifully landscaped.

Another plus is that as the property backs up to Pole’s Hill, your backyard neighbor is conservation land that has ocean views! You can bike out to the bay on one side; the ocean on the other.

Speaking of the great outdoors, Corliss Landing (an ideal spot to launch a kayak) is less than a half mile away and the playground at Brown’s Field and Pond is even closer.

On a practical note — location, location, location, that is — the house is convenient to Route 128 and both downtown Gloucester and Rockport. Although "outside" is wonderful, what’s inside is also special.

For example …

Like any well-bred turn-of-the-century home, this one has a charming vestibule. The tile floor allows for easy maintenance but the angled ceiling ratchets up the character factor. So does the rounded archway that leads into the kitchen.

Tile flooring continues into the eat-in kitchen (and throughout the first floor), which is very large. The ceramic farmer’s sink is a reminder — albeit a contemporary one — that this home has a rich past. The future also looks bright since given its size, installing an island (be it permanent or mobile) to increase the amount of working surfaces is certainly a doable project.

A nearby full bathroom has a tub/shower combination. Bead board wainscoting that is about four-feet high is a pretty detail as is a built-in half cabinet in an arched niche.

Double crown molding and detailed base boards are highlights in the well-sized living room. Extra-wide one-over-one windows with bull’s eye trim — that’s on the door and windows moldings, too — are additional reminders of when this home was built. A wood stove is a cozy touch.

A vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and a skylight is one focal point in the adjacent family room/den. Beautiful fir floor boards are another. A deep closet is a practical extra. Incidentally, this could also be a first-floor bedroom.

Let’s go up

Gleaming fir floor boards, which were refinished and are the norm on the second floor, are not the only highlights, however. A sweet built-in cupboard with one drawer and a glass-front door showcasing open shelving is tucked between the two bedrooms on this floor.

The front bedroom — this has access to a pull-down attic — is filled with wonderful traditional elements like four-panel doors and detailed bump boards. In addition to a deep single closet, this room has two windows for cross-ventilation, of course.

The sleeping chamber of the master suite, which is even bigger, has three windows plus a closet with open shelving. Four-panel doors, detailed bump boards and the lovely fir floor are classic touches.

Even the en suite bathroom has personality starting with an angled ceiling. The corner step-in shower — it’s a new one — and an old-fashioned radiator — there is one in the master bedroom, too — contribute to this room’s captivating ambiance.

An extra wide double closet provides an abundance of storage.

So does the basement. Currently semi-finished with one room, this level has potential. Creating play space for adults or children is one option but this could also be an office, gym or even a media room.

Contact The Boston North Group (Brandon Collins, Heather Murray or Jack Brown) of Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty at 518-222-1141 or by email: brandon.collins@sothebysrealty.com; heather.murray@sothebysrealty.com; or jack.brown@sothebysrealty.com.